Letters

Agency workers do need protection

I was surprised to see Will Hutton's take (Letters, February 15) on agency workers. He says they are not facing growing exploitation and he therefore opposes further legal protection. Of course it is impossible to measure the precise level of abuse. But any effort would not start with the government's labour force survey, whose figures are normally quoted to show there has been no growth in agency working - though even this shows that agency workers are taking a bigger share of temporary working. But the LFS is a sample telephone household survey and probably not good at finding migrant and other vulnerable workers at home and ready for a chat. And by design it excludes all workers who live at their place of employment.

Indeed the 260,000 figure for agency workers reported in official statistics should ring alarms. The industry regularly claims more than 1 million agency workers. This means there are around 800,000 invisible agency workers missing from official statistics and these will inevitably include the most vulnerable.

But any exploitation or abuse is wrong; it should not be necessary to prove that it is on the increase to make it illegal. If unions are wrong, and the employment-agency lobby is right, then it is even harder to accept the employer argument that modest measures to provide a basic level of employment rights for agency workers will cause massive disruption. Unions are not against employment agencies. Providing employers with short-term needs with staff with short-term availability is a perfectly respectable and useful business. But the whole sector is being tarnished by the actions of the disreputable. MPs on Friday have the chance to vote for Andrew Miller's bill and protect some of our most vulnerable workers.Brendan BarberGeneral secretary, TUC

Will Hutton may be right that the number of agency workers is "stable". But he's wrong to imply the "exploitation of vulnerable workers" is stable or falling. For a vulnerable worker may just as easily be - and in our experience usually is - employed on a permanent and full-time basis. And there is ample evidence the exploitation of such workers by rogue employers is widespread.

A recent study of our clients experiencing a problem at work - many of them the cleaners, drivers, carers and shop assistants we all rely on - revealed most to have been subjected to serious breaches of their employment rights. Yet the vast majority (95%) were employed on a permanent basis, and over half had been in the job for at least two years. Only 2% were agency temping.

Such vulnerable workers are not the only losers. For the activity of their exploitative employers puts good employers at a competitive disadvantage, eventually forcing some to unlawfully cut corners themselves. And, when they do, even more workers lose out.David HarkerChief executive, Citizens Advice

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